-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Relief teams dug through rose gardens at the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles Sunday , looking for more than 70 army officers still missing -- and presumed killed -- after a deadly uprising by paramilitary forces last week .

Bangladeshi firefighters continued to uncover bodies Friday of Bangladesh Rifles officers from a mass grave .

By late Saturday night , 72 bodies had been found floating in a river or in three mass graves inside the compound of the Rifles , or BDR , in the capital city , Dhaka , the Home Ministry said .

Fifty of the dead were confirmed to be army officers , shot or stabbed to death . Another six were Rifles troops , or jawans . The rest of the bodies were too damaged for immediate identification , the ministry said .

But four days since the rebellion , grieving family members keeping vigil outside the headquarters were losing hope of seeing their loved ones alive again . Some men quietly recited verses from the Quran , Islam 's holy book , or counted prayer beads . Several women howled in despair and collapsed hopelessly on the pavement .

Sympathy for the mutineers has dried up , a Bangladeshi journalist said .

`` The first day of the incident , Bangladeshis were for the BDR . They thought they had legitimate concerns of army officer corruption and denial of basic necessities to them , '' said Ashraf Kaiser , host of the television show , `` Road to Democracy . ''

`` But from the second day , when we started getting news of missing officers and seeing pictures of one body after another being pulled out , the perception changed , '' he said .

One can see the shift in the media coverage of the mutiny , he said .

`` What was being called Pilkhana revolt or rebellion '' -- named after the area of the city where the BDR compounds are located -- `` is now being dubbed the Pilkhana massacre . ''

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initially earned high marks for persuading the jawans to surrender in exchange for amnesty . But now she finds herself in a delicate balancing act : trying to appease an army that demands the killers , who stubbed out the lives of so many of its officers , be punished .

She met for hours Sunday with the army 's top officials , and made several concessions .

A committee the Home Ministry set up to investigate the mutiny will be shuffled to include more members from the army 's ranks .

She has also backtracked from her promise of amnesty . Killers will face trial , she said , and ordered jawans to return to their posts or report to police stations by the end of the day Sunday .

Hundreds of jawans lined up at a field outside the Pilkhana headquarters , insisting to reporters they fled the compound during the rebellion .

They kissed their loved ones as they waited , assuring wives and fathers they were innocent but asking for their prayers .

The fear of a military take-over is a pervasive one in Bangladesh . The country has experienced a series of coup since its independence in 1971 , including one that killed Hasina 's father -- the country 's independence leader .

The current government itself came to power in December , after two years of an army-backed rule .

`` Hasina has her responsibility to keep peace and tranquility and so she did what she did , '' said Aneeqa Khan , a student who lives not far from the BDR headquarters . `` And you ca n't fault the army from reacting . They lost so many people . ''

The military did its part to allay fears of retaliation .

`` I believe if exemplary punishment is meted out to the people involved directly or indirectly in the mutiny , it will help pacify the anger among our officers and soldiers , '' Brig. Gen. Mahmud Hossain told reporters .

The standoff started Wednesday when BDR troops rebelled against their commanders . The BDR is a paramilitary force distinct from the army , but its commanders are career army officers .

The Rifles is responsible primarily for guarding the country 's borders . The force , more than 65,000-strong , also takes part in operations such as monitoring polls .

The troops staged their rebellion on the second day of BDR Week , when officers and troops from various BDR outposts along the border were in the capital for celebrations .

Discontent had been bubbling for years in the ranks of the BDR , who complained their army superiors dismissed their appeals for more pay , subsidized food and their requests to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations -- which pay far more than what they make at home .

Bangladesh and its South Asian neighbors are the largest troop contributors to U.N. peacekeeping operations .

During the stand-off , dozens of officers were killed . Some bodies were dumped in mass graves . Others were tossed in sewers that emptied into the Buriganga River , where they floated for miles before being retrieved .

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72 bodies found floating in a river or in three mass graves inside Rifles ' compound

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Fifty of the dead were confirmed to be army officers

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Standoff started Wednesday when Rifles troops rebelled against commanders

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More than 160 were inside Bangladesh Rifles headquarters when mutiny erupted